Thursday, October 23, 2014

In honor of Halloween, my Mixed Media art groups created these collaged pieces using charcoal, chalk pastel, watercolor and acrylic. Since my classes often have a wide age range (K - 6th) I find this style of art helps everyone to feel successful. But I suppose this project was inspired by the very loud group of crows that have been gathering across from my bedroom window lately. Have a Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

We kicked off our new Mixed Media Art Class session with these sweet sea otter pieces. This project was inspired by this gallery I found on Artsonia. The kids created their otters on black construction paper using chalk pastels. They followed a direct line drawing lesson to put down the basic shapes of their otters. I encouraged them to add texture with their pastels to create the look of fur (we learned sea otters have the thickest fur of any animal - 1,000,000 hairs per square inch!) Their backgrounds were created with watercolor to give the appearance of the otters popping out of the water. Artwork by K-6th graders.

Fun fact: Sea otters are social animals that float together in groups called "rafts" and hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift away from each other. So darn cute!

When drawing animals I like to start with a photograph and break it down into a series of shapes. In this case I used this sea otter print

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/sea-otter-portrait-brian-ray.html

Start with eyes first. They are relatively small and and pointed in the corners.

The otter's nose points upward and downward, (like 2 chocolate kisses glued together). From there I like to draw a furry head around those features, connecting to the tip of the nose on each side. Now add a furry little chin and small ears. A body can be drawn and stop wherever it enters the water. You may choose to add furry "arms" extending toward the mouth. We did this project in chalk pastel and I encouraged the kids to add as much texture as possible with the tip of their chalk to show the otters' thick fur.

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About Mary

Thanks for stopping by MaryMaking! I'm a SCAD grad with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design. I've worked in advertising and as a fine artist. I decided to combine two of my biggest loves, art and kids, and began teaching private art classes. I Love helping children create beautiful artwork! This blog has been a great way to exchange ideas with other art educators and share student art.